- Magnum Opus II (the Bye-Bye)
Sheet: 54 × 95 in. (137.2 × 241.3 cm)
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Coming of age in the media-saturated
1970s, Laurie Simmons played with the visual clichés of advertising, Hollywood
films, and television, understanding personal identity to be shaped by—not
merely reflected in—media representations of race, gender, sexuality, and
nationality. This grand summation of her famous Walking Objects series,
inspired by the memory of dancing Old Gold cigarette packs in a 1950s
television commercial, addresses issues of femininity and feminism, childhood
dreams and adult consumerism. With both humor and pathos, Simmons critiques
ideals of womanhood inherited from the media, from the perfect “hourglass”
figure to “time ticking” for a woman’s body.
Provenance[White Cube, London]; purchased by MFAH, 2017.
Exhibition History“Dreamers Awake,” White Cube Bermondsey, London, June 28 – September17, 2017 (Susanna Greeves, curator)
“The Fabulous World of Laurie Simmons,” Neues Museum, Nuremberg, Germany, 2014
“Duro Olowu: Material”, Salon 94 Freemans, New York, NY, 2012
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Printed in black on applied label, verso, bottom right of frame backing board: SALON 94 // Laurie Simmons [underlined] // Magnum Opus II (the Bye-Bye), 1991 // gelatin silver print // 54 x 95 inches // (137.2 x 241.3) // Edition 3/5 // (LS 30.3) // 12 EAST 94TH ST. NEW YORK, NY 10128 T: 646.672.9212
Printed in black on applied label, verso, bottom right of frame backing board: Framed with: // U.V. filtering plexiglas (Do Not Tape) // [....]
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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